


Unplanned developments

by I_hate_mages_No_you_dont



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Humor, Multi, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-08-23 10:18:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8324059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_hate_mages_No_you_dont/pseuds/I_hate_mages_No_you_dont
Summary: Modern AU prompt series:Cullen and Alistair work for the police, Fenris studies the law, Zevran is a super secret agent and Dorian is... Dorian. ;)It all started on a boring train ride and now this is turning into an ongoing series of prompts. So far the chapters are not very long, not very serious and hopefully slightly entertaining.Enjoy! (and feel free to send me a prompt, as seen in the chapter titles: two DA characters/setting/random word. I can promise nothing, but if I get a good idea I might write another little chapter with it)(by kittenmage)





	1. Steve Rogers/Alistair Theirin/Spoon

Monday morning. 

Steve hated mondays. 

It would be time for the weekly briefing again, Tony would talk and smirk and talk more and Steve wasn’t really up for that today. All he wanted was his bed, a blanket, and no one close for at least another 4 hours.

He hadn’t actually slept a lot. Close to midnight his roommates had apparently thought it a good idea to start sparring in their room. Or whatEVER it was they did. He just heard the constant noise of metal hitting on metal. Probably another one of their fencing training sessions. He just wished that they wouldn’t do that at night. He sighed deeply as he took a bowl out of the cupboard and searched for the cereal box.

He would have said something if not for last week where… well he hadn’t been very quiet himself, so he didn’t dare to be mad at Alistair and Cullen this time around. His faint smile at the memory vanished fast enough when he discovered that the cereal was almost empty. Another sigh. Why was he the only one to get groceries! His patience wasn’t the best this morning.

The metal sounds and presumed fighting had stopped around 4 o’clock. But 3 hours of sleep was definitely not enough, not even for Captain America.

One look into the fridge and Steve’s sigh turned into a deeply annoyed frown. Great, just great! Only two boxes of milk and one of them had been open for over a week. Steve carefully opened the lid, only to close it rapidly again.  
Yes! Definitely sour!

At least there was one more. When Steve finally had his breakfast ready and was attempting to get a spoon… there was none.

No spoon at all. But no fork, or knife, or any kind of cuttlery in the whole kitchen. Quickly he opened every drawer but to no success.

“Goddamn….!” He stopped himself from cursing, though his mood was at a definite low. Either Alistair or Cullen must have forgotten to do the dishes. AGAIN! Sometimes they did that, hoarding dirty bowls, cups, plates and the respective knives, spoons and forks in their rooms.  
Steve was annoyed, tired and definitely done with the day already. But he at least would have his breakfast!

With a fast knock on Alistair’s door he entered – and froze. The floor was covered in cuttlery and pots in a kind of makeshift fortress and battlefield. Marbles that must have been used as canonballs everywhere in between. Little figurines that Steve identified as orcs from a “Lord of the Rings” board game were scattered across the floor. In the middle of the chaos of kitchen supplies and “casualties” lay Alistair and Cullen, fast asleep, cuddling close and judging by the sight of the empty bottles on the bed, totally wasted.

Another sigh and a nicked spoon later Steve was sitting in the kitchen, munching his cereals.  
If by the look of it, the banter between Alistair and Cullen, that had lasted for weeks, finally led to them laying in each others arms, hands clasped together, he was willing to forgive the sleeplesss night.

At least this once. Steve surpressed a chuckle. If the two grown men insisted on playing siege in their bedroom though, he either needed a means of acoustic revenge or sleep somewhere else. Steve smirked… probably both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my lovely friend Darling Elf Darling for this prompt.,  
> I am sure she had something else in mind, when she gave me the word 'spoon', but I simply had to do something else instead.  
> Hope you enjoyed this first mini prompt. I will upload more chapters once they are finished
> 
> \- kittenmage


	2. Fenris/Alistair/Department store/Bunny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fenris is dragged along by Hawke, meets Alistair and makes a surprising discovery about the blond man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to send me a prompt, as seen in the chapter titles: two DA characters/random word.

There they were, in front of the room, where they were going to attend the group meeting for people with “fucked up” family realtionships. The actual title was somewhat more considerate but Fenris didn’t give a damn. Fenris would NEVER have come here, but Hawke insisted and though grumpy and muttering “this is totally useless” he had followed her to the meeting.

The group wasn’t big. About 10 persons sat around in a circle and Fenris had the sudden urge to turn on his heels and leave straight away. What was he here for anyway. His sister’s betrayel was long past. Over. Done. Nothing to do about it. Not any more. But as if she had read his mind, Hawke’s hand appeared on Fenris’ shoulder and pushed him down on a chair.

“Well, that is great! Some new faces! Oh I mean… it is not great that you need to be here! Sorry! It is great that you’re here to talk!” The man who had spoken sported a boyish smile. With his persistent laughter and carefree attitude Fenris wondered with a sneer, if this man had ever had any problems with his family whatsover. He seemed like the one everyone would get along with. In his bad mood, he made Fenris sick at first sight.

Hawke nudged him in the side. “That is Alistair! I told you about him remember. Once met him, when he was on a business trip in Lothering.” She beamed at the blond guy and he gave her a slight wink.

Greeeeat, thought Fenris. Another one like the dumb blond doctor. Probably always smiling, always righteous, and oh so funny. Did he mention that this man made him sick yet? 

“Great! Now everyone’s settled down, get this session started!”

\---

An hour and 10 sad stories about family disputes and fights later, Fenris was free again. He had to admitt, that Alistair was not as bad as Anders. The stupid doctor, he corrected himself. Well he felt a little sorry for Alistair and his money grabbing sister… Reminded him of himself. At least a bit.

That new found sympathy found a rapid end though about an hour later when Hawke had dragged him along to the departement store and they ran into Alistair again.

“Hawke! It was so good to see you earlier! Never thought you would come! I am so sorry about it all!” He pulled her into a bear hug to which she responded with a soft laugh. “Good to see you too! And thanks, it’s way better to talk then brood over it constantly.” She winked at Fenris who did his best to ignore it.

“You must be Fenris! So sorry ‘bout it. Seems we both have shitty sisters.” Alistair laughed awkwardly, but stopped with a sound that reminded Fenris of coughing when he didn’t return the smile.

“Seems so.” He was a bit mean, he knew. But couldn’t there be a place for once, where he was free of some grinning, blond, “I’ll save the world by hugging it”-type?!

Hawke broke the silence with a slight kick into Fenris heel. “Are you looking for something specific?! Might help searching, we are free today.”

WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HAWKE?! She must have changed her agenda to “torture Fenris” today. Though he merely sneered and hoped that Alistair would decline. The man in question though turned a bright shade of pink.

“Eh… yeah… well… maybe, maybe not. But thanks for the offer! Gotta be home soon! Cullen… my flatemates are waiting.” Another hug for Hawke, a handshake with Fenris and Alistair went down the hall, his blush only slowly fading.

“That was weird even for him!” Hawke frowned before her face turned into a smirk. “Let’s look what he’s up too!”  
Reluctantly Fenris followed Hawke. At least spying on Alistair was better than standing next to him and listening to him. And he had to admit, he was kind of curious what could be too embarrassing for him to tell Hawke. It wasn’t long till they found Alistair again. He was eyeing a pair of the most hilariously bright pink bunny slippers they had ever seen. A clerk came up to him, asking if he wanted to see the smaller sizes and if he was looking for his daughter or niece. He replied with a crimson blush and stutter that he was exactly where he meant to be and that he in fact needed them a size bigger.

Hawke was pressing her hand so hard against her mouth to silence her laughter, Fenris was worried she’d explode any second. In spite of himself he himself was quite amused by the sight.

A quick glance at the pair of slippers that the clerk handed back to Alistair and down to the blond man’s feet, made Fenris frown a bit though. “He’s not buying them for himself!”, he whispered to Hawke who tried and failed to calm down. “What?! Are you sure!” She eyed round the corner and saw too that the slippers where definitely a little too big, even for Alistair. A second of wonder flushed over her face after which she broke out in even more giggles. This time Fenris had to drag Hawke down behind the next aisle to escape Alistair’s notice. “Do I miss the joke here?”

Hawke whiped away some stray tears and looked at Fenris as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “He mentioned Cullen.” Fenris frowned, “Yes? They’re sharing a flat. What about that is…” Realization hit him. He covered his eyes to block the mental image though of course failed horribly. “You mean to tell me, the blond dork over there is in love with the blond annyoing police officer that apparently likes to wear bunny slippers?!”

Hawke barely managed to nod before she lost it again. Another laughing fit pinned her down to the floor, while Fenris kneeled beside her, eyeing round the corner to see a happy but flustered Alistair buying the pink abomination of a slipper. A crooked smile crept on his face. No… the mental image of the puppy eyed Alistair and the stern police officer Cullen with pink bunny slippers wouldn’t go away so easily again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I know, this is definitely one of the silliest idea I ever had. But Cullen and Alistair finally got together over playing with cuttlery and orcs, so why not add bunny slippers to the mix ;)
> 
> as always, hope you liked it  
> \- kittenmage


	3. Cullen/Dorian/Spy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cullen Rutherford, police officer and generally a patient guy, was stationed at a bustling party in a fancy hotel.  
> Together with Dorian Pavus...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to send me a prompt, as seen in the chapter titles: two DA characters/random word.

That particular mission turned out to be a lot more tiring than he had anticipated. Cullen Rutherford, police officer and generally a patient guy, was stationed at a bustling party in a fancy hotel. This time he was undercover. As main protector of a foreign spy. Who was spying on whatever the Maker knew. And the man in question was the most flamboyant, illustrious and not-undercover person ever.

Dorian Pavus leaned over the bar, carefully swirling around the cherry in his cocktail, with a look on his face as if he owned the place. For all Cullen knew, that could as well be true. The Pavus family was rumoured to be exceedingly rich, with hotels, casinos and spas all over the globe. Why the only son and heir of that family chose to work as a spy for his country was definitely beyond Cullen’s understanding and he mostly didn’t care. Although the tiny detail he indeed cared about was, why in the Maker’s name the secret meeting between Dorian and ‘Felix’ had to be here. And under Cullen’s responsibility.

His… boyfriend – he was still reluctant to think the word, let alone speak it out loud – Alistair had ducked out of the mission immediately. Which was seconded by their superiors. Two famously rich heirs in one bar would draw too much attention. So the job to protect the excessively dressed, smirking and flirting Dorian went to Cullen instead.

Officer Rutherford sat on a bar stool next to the lounging Dorian Pavus who tried to engage the bar keeper into a conversation by wiggling his eyebrows every few minutes.

„You’re a spy, not a prostitute!“, sighed Cullen into his non alcoholic cocktail. He hoped that the other man wouldn’t hear him over the general noise of the hotel bar, but Cullen wasn’t as lucky.

“Oh, do I sense some humour there, Officer? What a surprise I was quite disappointed that someone as handsome as you should be as stern as a grumpy old man.” Dorian turned towards his guard for the evening. And with it his wiggling eye brows. “Maybe I should try my luck with you…” His voice turned even more sultry – if that was possible – and Cullen blushed heavily and almost choked on his drink.

“Ah… well… not that this has anything to do with the… job,” Cullen lowered his voice, so he wouldn’t attract any unwanted attention, “but I actually have a boyfriend.” Another blush spread over his face at that unplanned confession and he hoped deeply that it would silence Dorian on the subject. Maker, how wrong he was!

Dorian’s eyes doubled in size and his mouth twitched into a wide grin. “Ohh… officer, I didn’t actually believe you were interested in men. And going steady, too. Well I am impressed!” He took a sip from his drink, not without another flirty look towards the barkeeper. “What’s he like? After a job well done, I presume we have time for some small talk…” Cullen’s head shot up and he stared at Dorian in disbelieve. “Job... done? When? How? We’ve been here for hours and you haven’t spoken to anyone but the…” A slender finger pressed itself to Cullen’s lips, which silenced him immediately. “Shhh… don’t blow his cover!” Dorian winked and lowered his hand again. “The matter has been settled after the first five minutes at this party. I just thought, that while we’re here, we could have some fun… and some drinks…” he downed the drink, nodded at the barkeeper and ordered another obscenely sweet cocktail. With his usual smile, of course. Cullen on the other hand stared in disbelief for a few moments. “You are… done? And have been for almost all the time we’ve spend here? Ever heard something of wasting the police’s time?!” Cullen let out an annoyed grunt. _‘How in the world did he end up with the world’s most efficient but extravagant spy?!’_

“Oh relax!”, Dorian said, balancing the new cocktail elegantly in his hand. “We’ve got all the time we want. Your team is having an excellent time, our bosses will be satisfied and now we get some well deserved fun.” Another grin spread over Dorian’s face. “Unless you were planning to meet somebody else tonight… I could totally understand that,” he stretched the word “totally” to emphasis his meaning, making it sound almost ridiculous. Almost. 

Cullen sighed. As it was Dorian who determined the length of their stay at the hotel, he was up for a long night. A very long night. And judging by the smirks on the other man’s face, he wouldn’t drop the topic of Cullen’s boyfriend anytime soon. ‘Great!’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> blame glowelf for this prompt. Cullen and Dorian would be an odd team, but I'd love to have them rejoin forces in a future prompt again...  
> next time there will be some Zevran. We'll see how that goes.
> 
> \- kittenmage


	4. Zevran/Hawke/Fenris/Handcuffs/Mansion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marian Hawke had known that Fenris would call in a favour for dragging him to the weekly meetings. That it would come in the form of a secret agent and handcuffs was surprising none the less.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The break was quite unintentional and won't be as long before the next chapter.  
> As always, I hope you enjoy it and have fun despite the plot ;)
> 
> This prompt is by oldgrumpywizard btw. Find her account here on ao3 for Zevran/Josephine fluff/smut ;)

It had been some months after the first meeting with Alistair’s group. Despite Fenris’ first impression and definitely beyond his understanding, he had attended the weekly meetings together with Hawke. Every single one of them. At first, he had told himself, that he did it for Marian, so that she didn’t have to go through this alone. But with the weeks passing he had to admit to himself, that he felt better, too. Not better, in a sense of actually good, but the weight of some of his memories seemed to be less heavy.

Though of course, he hadn’t told Hawke that.

So, it was no surprise that when he suggested a special self defense course, Marian saw it as payback for making him go with her every week. “Do I really need to be a part of this? You know I can stand my ground pretty well. And I don’t need some super special classes on how to deal with being held hostage or whatever that former colleague of Isabela’s is up to!” Hawke almost whined. She and Fenris had their final exams in a week. They had been studying all day, until they could no longer follow any coherent thought. Fenris was almost sure that Hawke just wanted to cover herself in blankets on the couch with her dog and watch something as silly as possible to relax. He on the other hand, needed excersice to clear his mind. And tonight Zevran, a former colleague and friend of Isabela’s would give them a not so usual self defense class. 

Fenris and Hawke had met because of their common subject. Both studied law at the same university and had stumbled over each other on the first day of university. And Fenris was grateful for that. Not the literal stumbling but for having met Marian Hawke. Shortly after he had been introduced to her colourful group of friends. Though he wouldn’t say so aloud, but he wouldn’t part with any of them. For anything.

But studying law had turned out as not exactly the thing Fenris wanted. As a survivor of abuse in his own youth he had wanted to bring justice to others. Defend people that had gone through similar situations. But although he could start as a lawyer any time after his graduation and actually already had an offer from a respectable attorney, he wanted to do more. Over the years, he had noticed that protecting someone, not just in court but actually standing up for somebody, was what he really wanted to do. Fenris had taken every kind of self defense and martial arts class he could find. At one point even taken up a job at a security agency. He had been good at that. Maybe even better than as a lawyer, and he was good at that too. Isabela had been the first to comment on it. She was working for an international security agency and one evening when the gang was gathered at Varric’s place for cards and drinks, she had spoken up to Fenris. Shortly after an offer of a special self defence class had been made and now Fenris and an unwilling Hawke awaited the ring of the doorbell and Zevran Arainai’s arrival. According to Isabela’s information he was working for some kind of secret service now. All very… secret of course. 

“Why didn’t you ask Isabela to train with you? Or Varric.. no, he can’t stand to punch people. Let alone see blood. Why not Anders? He’s actually still active in…”

“No!” Fenris’ jaw clenched. He couldn’t quite explain to himself, why he was so averse to the idea of training with the doctor. And he protested before Hawke could even tell him what kind of sport or self defense Anders apparently practiced.

Fenris was saved from Hawke’s question, as they heard the door bell ringing.

Marian stood up from the big chair she sat in and entered the hall. Her footsteps echoed from the marble floor to the ceiling high above her head. It sounded empty. Far too empty for Fenris liking. Marian was the heiress of the grand mansion in the centre of the old city after her mother had died a few years earlier. Fenris sighed and followed Marian to the door. He really hated large, empty houses.

“You must be Marian Hawke, right?” As Hawke opened the door, she was met with a wide grin. The man it belonged to, was a bit shorter than her, but even in his simple suit one could see that he was quite muscular and definitely stronger than her. “Yes, that’s me. You must be Zevran! Nice to meet you.” She offered the stranger her hand, which he took, and steped aside to let him in. “Quite an impressive house you have. Isabela warned me about that. I didn’t believe her.” Zevran winked and then spotted Fenris. “Ahhh! You’re Fenris?” His smile got even wider, if that was possible. Fenris nodded. “Yes, we talked on the phone. Glad you could make it.” The two men shook hands. “Oh, anything for Isabela. And her friends.” Another wink was thrown at both Marian and Fenris and they went back into the huge library. “This is the biggest room. At least the one with the most space or least danger to knock stuff over.” Marian tried to make conversation. 

“It’ll do perfectly!” Zevran took in the room and nodded slightly. “Yes, perfect! So, shall we begin?”

\---

“You have to tighten the handcuffs more, Fenris.” Zevran glanced at the handcuffs that currently held Marian’s hands behind her back. “Our handsome host needs a bit of a challenge.” His smile was directed back at Hawke, who despite her initial unease was unexpectedly okay with the situation. Zevran had turned out to be really professional and if one ignored his flirting demeanour or just saw it as his way of communication, he was a very competent teacher. Fenris marvelled at the man. Isabela’s description had formed a decidedly different picture of Zevran inside his mind and he was both shocked and impressed that the man was so different. So far, they had rehearsed a few different techniques to get rid of attackers who held them in place (standard self defence) and how to escape different forms of ropes and chains. Now they had moved on to handcuffs. Getting out of them was difficult and extremely uncomfortable, but Fenris enjoyed every moment of it. Not the pain. But the feeling that he learned something useful. Something that would help him. And help him help others. Also, it seemed as if he had a knack for this kind of stuff. Zevran had at least once commented on his talent and if he wanted to join him in business. Which Fenris had declined for the time being. But this evening and the secret agent’s encouragement strengthened his resolve to pursue this idea of his further. Help people. In the field and the real world. After he finished his degree.

Fenris’ musings and Hawke’s struggle with the handcuffs were interrupted by a cough from the door.

“What in the Maker’s name are you doing here?” Bethany and Anders stood in the door frame, two pizza boxes in their hands. They had apparently come from a shift at the hospital. Bethany wore an almost smile as she looked down at her sister in handcuffs and Fenris who knealed behind her. Anders didn’t say anything. His eyes were flitting over the scene, his face having adopted the slightes hint of red, when his gaze met Zevran.

“Zevran!?!” His eyes doubled in size and his face went white for a second, before he blushed a deep red. “Oh, so I wasn’t mistaken! It’s you!” Zevran walked over to the door in a few quick steps and hugged Anders. “How have you been doing? Isabela never told me you were in town, too, that sly minx. Wants to keep you to herself, doesn’t she?” He winked. “Want to join us? You were quite good back in the good old days!”

The rest of the room had gone silent. Marian Hawke was embarrassed that her sister and one of her friends had found her in such an odd situation. She had completely forgotten to tell them. Fenris stared at Zevran and Anders in turns. _‘The doctor had done what exactly in his past?! No… I really don’t want to know!’_ He definitely wanted to know, damnit. Zevran waited for Anders’ reply, who was gaping open mouthed and seemed to internally fight against his blush.

Bethany somehow saved the awkward situation. For now.

“Seems we might need more Pizza! I’m going to order some. And then”, she added, “I want to know EVERYTHING!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to send me a prompt, as seen in the chapter titles: two DA characters/random word.


	5. Meredith/Anders/Lowtown/Ice cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the quick confrontation with Anders' past, Fenris seems to take an interest in it. Anders' expierences as a secret agent of course... not... well, Anders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To anyone reading my other fanfics: I am not solely writing about ice cream! This was a prompt I got ages ago, so where the other two times. (Though I love ice cream <3)

_‘This can’t be real!’_

Anders sat on a bench in one of the smaller parks of the city. He stared at his phone in disbelief. After the seriously weird and unexpected encounter with Zevran last week at Hawke’s place, his daily schedule and the dynamic in his friend group had slightly changed. Hawke and Bethany had been understandably surprised by the news that Anders had shortly been part of Isabela’s and Zevran’s team of freelance security agents in their early twenties. Before he had started to study medicine and combat sports had transformed into a hobby and he… had calmed down a bit. In more ways than one. But Fenris reaction had been. Odd. 

At the evening in question, after everyone got their pizza and was settled around the large table in the dining room, Zevran had colourfully retold every tiny detail about their “adventures” – as he called it. Hawke after overcoming her own blush and awkwardness had eagerly sucked up every detail and laughed several times. Mostly at the parts where operations hadn’t gone according to plan. And the success of these missions had depended on their skills at improvising. More often than not, Anders had played the innocent bystander or damsel in distress, so Isabela and Zevran could get to their target while the main focus was on Anders. ‘Pretty hilarious’ Anders grumbled. Bethany had voiced at least twice during the tale that she saw her superior doctor in a completely new light. Though Anders couldn’t tell if that was good or bad.

But Fenris… Fenris had been weird. More weird than usual. During the whole tale, he had said nothing, ignored all of Zevran’s flirts and remarks into his direction and had stared at Anders. His expression unreadable, his eyes slightly narrowed in thought. But not a single word! All night! Until Zevran had to go to catch his flight. “I can’t tell you where I’m going, darling”, had been his reply as Bethany asked where he was headed and he was gone.

Fenris remained silent for exactly as long as it took him to finish his exams. Judging by Hawke’s facebook entry with “I AM FREE!” which was put up exactly at the same time Anders’ phone had buzzed and a text message from Fenris arrived. “Hi. Care to talk about your experiences with security? In two hours at the Hanged Man.”

Anders had been too baffled to ignore this. Fenris was texting him? Willingly. About his past. To talk?!

Two hours later he had found himself at their usual bar, the other man waiting at a small side table. A short greeting. Anders congratulated him on finishing his last exam. A shrug with a slight smile. And then they had talked. Apparently Fenris had been cataloguing all these questions inside his mind. Questions about the different sorts of security. The combat sports Anders had done. How he came to choose the profession and ultimately leave it. The places Anders had been to. Starting with completely professional inquires that focused on the topic, the conversation had slowly turned to more and more personal subjects. To questions about Anders and Fenris that had little to do with security. Or fighting. They only stopped as suddenly Isabela had slung an arm around Fenris from behind and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Now here is our fabulous new lawyer!!” She had winked at Anders. Fenris had blinked and within seconds the man that had moments before laughed at a quite embarrassing story of Anders was back to his usual facial expression when the doctor was around. Something between a frown and a judging smirk.

That expression had hardly changed after the rest of their friends had arrived at their table. To congratulate. To party. To celebrate that exams were over. Hawke had loudly invited everyone at the bar for a drink, which gained her a lot of cheers. But Anders hadn’t said much. He couldn’t really put together what had happened. Or if the conversation with Fenris had even happened at all. 

On the way home, Anders’ phone had buzzed again. “Thanks for the talk and the info. See you tomorrow?” He hadn’t even noticed that he stopped to stare at his phone until his neighbour drunkenly bumped into him in the hall and asked if he had seen a ghost.

Maybe he had.

Almost every day since, Anders received some texts at odd hours. Asking if he wanted to train with Fenris at one of his courses. And if he still had some of his old gear or still knew where to get it. And then there was this text. Anders had been musing over it for half a day. Acutally he had trouble focusing on anything else at his shift. Fenris had written at 2 a.m. “Want to meet for some ice cream when you’re done with work? Lowtown park, 3 p.m.?”

Of course, he had said yes. Or rather “Sure! I love ice cream, will be there.” Still this didn’t make any sense. Up until now they had never really talked. Just barely acknowledged their presence at game nights, or Hawke’s parties. But never had Anders thought that… maybe he was reading too much into this. Maybe Fenris was really just interested in hearing everything about Anders’ experiences. Up until now Anders’ impression had been that Fenris was extremely annoyed by him. For whatever reason. So why should that change all of a sudden? 

Anders brows furrowed and he still stared at the text. His own heart dancing around in loopings. If Fenris meant something by it… but what if not?!… what if Anders got his hopes up and Fenris just… when did he even start to hope for something in regards to Fenris?? Maker, he was fucked! He sighed deeply, his expression dropped in frustration and he put away his phone.

“So… you’re finally done with staring at my text?”

A voice grumbled next to him and Anders jerked around. “Fenris?! Shit, I haven’t seen you.” The other man laughed. “Nor heard. I said hello a minute ago!”

“Oh...” Anders felt the blush rise in his face, but had no way to stop it. Fenris looked at him with a slight smile on his face. “Are you getting up any time soon, or do I have to get ice cream all on my own?” One of Fenris’ eyebrows moved upwards to accentuate the question. Anders could swear that he was making fun of him. Rightly so… he hadn’t been as embarrassing as that in years. Ok, maybe weeks. But never in front of Fenris.

Between blushing and stuttering something about ice cream or whatever, Anders actually managed to follow Fenris to the ice cream stand. He had been asking about his day at the hospital. Which had surprised Anders and almost made him blush and stutter again.

“Dark chocolate and coffee please”

“You even EAT coffee flavoured ice cream?! You’re weird!”

“Says the man who couldn’t choose between bubble gum and cookie dough” Fenris smirked. _‘He’s doing this on purpose. I’m sure of it!’_ , Anders thought as he felt another blush rise. “That is a valid struggle, Fenris. Both is good.”

“So that’s why you got both?”

“Exactly!” Anders raised his eyebrows. He knew it was ridiculous to have strong opinions about ice cream, but Fenris somehow made him even more nervous than at their meetings before. He seemed… carefree. Or content. Or somehow just completely at ease and that was something Anders had never seen with Fenris. It suited him. And Anders wasn’t sure how the thought had gotten into his brain, but he liked that smile on Fenris’ face. He actually liked a lot about Fenris. His hair, that he kept on dying white – for whatever reason. His green eyes that seemed to hide so much. Even the way he slowly walked through the park. And Fenris casual voice as he told Anders about an application he wanted to send out and asked if Anders could help with. Anders liked it… quite a lot. And that scared him more than he could say.

Before Anders could figure out a reply – the part of his brain that was responsible for language seemed to be offline at the moment – he bumped into someone, smearing ice cream all over the other person’s uniform.

Uniform?

Anders blinked and looked at the woman who stood in front of him. Meredith Stannard, head of the police department, ice cream all over her jacket and blouse, glared daggers at him.

“Oh… OH… I am so sorry Ma’am!”

Anders could pratically see Meredith’s anger boil up before she opened her mouth to yell at him. Fenris stood next to him, his expression between laughing and worry.

Anders was glued to the spot as Meredith kept yelling and screaming about proper behaviour and the insolence of people nowadays, before leaving empty handed. Clumsiness was after all not a crime. Not yet. Anders was sure if Meredith had a say in the matter, he would at least have gotten an official warning. For being distracted while eating ice cream.

“You might need new ice cream!” Fenris smiled, turning back towards the ice cream stand. Anders followed. His gaze directed at the path in front of him. Not the man at his side.

“You might be right!” He managed a smile and a quick sideways glance. Now it was Fenris whose gaze seemed to be fixed on Anders and Anders’ chest made another looping. Maybe… maybe he wasn’t just making everything up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there might be a development towards fenders in the future, stay tuned ;)
> 
> also: Feel free to send me a prompt, as seen in the chapter titles: two DA characters/random word.


	6. Merrill/Aveline/ears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hen night with unexpected outcome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the last update has been a while, I am sorry if anyone has been waiting for this!  
> thank you to blueelvewithwings for beta reading <3
> 
> prompt was by @oldgrumpywizard

Finally!

The big night before the big day! Merrill was definitely just as excited as Aveline. Though for different reasons. When her friend and co-worker in the town hall had asked her to be her marriage witness, Merrill had almost started to cry. Who was she kidding, she had cried and lunged herself at a very flustered Aveline. Having been brought up in a more pagan tradition, she had never expected to attend a “normal” wedding, even less being in charge of a vital part of the ceremony. And hen night. Merrill had had no idea what this hen night was all about, so her main sources for information were Isabela (Lots of alcohol!), Hawke (Party all night!) and Varric (You have to invite everyone!). Along these guidelines, Merrill had done her best to organize the most perfect hen night the town had ever seen!

In the middle of preparations and sending invitations to Aveline’s friends, Bethany had asked what motto Merrill had chosen. “Motto?” She had blinked in confusion. No one had told her that hen nights were supposed to be themed events. Luckily, though, she had Bethany. So, they came up with a marvellous idea. Merrill only hoped, Aveline would like it, too.

It was a warm summer night at the end of August. Aveline had set her wedding for early fall when all of her younger friends would be done with their exams and finals. Also, Isabela had insisted to help with decorations and said that nothing would look better than an autumn wedding. Donnic, Aveline’s soon-to-be husband, had uttered only one condition with an ironic smile: That they set the date on a weekend where he didn’t need to work.

Merrill counted the people gathered for the third time now. As far as she could tell everyone was there. Only women though. She wondered if that was a usual thing that all their male friends had declined the invitation. Had Merrill misunderstood something? Varric had said she had to invite all of Aveline’s friends. She shrugged and continued to hand out the elf ears she had bought for the occasion. Aveline raised her eyebrows in a panic. “I will be an elf for tonight??!”

“Oh, it’ll be fun. Bethany and I agreed that elf ears were perfect. You love fantasy and fairy tales so much. It was the easiest choice.” Merrill smiled and slipped her own pair of elf ears on. “Come on Aveline… it’s your one night as an elven princess!” Bethany appeared behind Aveline and clipped a glittery tiara into the other woman’s hair. “It’ll be fun!” The bride just huffed and resigned herself to her fate.

As everyone was wearing their elf ears, Merrill claimed everyone’s attention with a happy giggle and a cough.

“I see everyone is here! I am very happy to welcome you all to this very special night for our dear Aveline!”

The other girls cheered and Aveline turned a bit pink. She wasn’t used to being the centre of attention.

“So, my dear fellow elves and queen”, Merrill curtsied in front of Aveline, “tonight is all about having an amazing time. We’ll start with a lovely restaurant and some bars or clubs after. Everyone in?”

Another round of cheers and Aveline sighed. It was her own fault for having Merrill as her marriage witness. Or rather not fault. She was very happy her friend had agreed to the task. And had put so much thought and attention into planning this night as well. She might normally not be the type to walk through the city with elf ears on, but she loved fantasy more than any other genre in fiction. And the restaurant Merrill had chosen for them was one Aveline had long wanted to try. It was not really fancy. But it made a big effort to only use organic products and buy as much as possible from local sources. Dishes were traditional but far from boring. And they supplied the bunch of giggling “elves” with a variety of berry wines. It was just as Merrill had said, absolutely lovely!

When they left the restaurant, some of them were already slightly tipsy. Hawke and Isabela had their arms slung around each other’s shoulders and they tried to sing the main theme from “The Lord of the Rings”. As that failed because neither remembered the melody well enough, Hawke simply got out her phone and opened youtube. Volume to the max, the group walked towards their usual bar to the tune of the “Fellowship of the Ring”. Despite hissing “Turn it down a bit, Hawke!”, Aveline felt unvoluntarily epic. Her friends were the worst. She loved them!

After about an hour in the Hanged Man, where they had met Varric and Anders who for some mysterious reason both claimed to have work later on and fled the “elves” as fast as possible, Merrill and Aveline agreed to move on. Better not embarrass themselves in their usual bar too much. Isabela did her best to annoy Cassandra. Or flirt with her. In her current drunken state one couldn’t be so sure about her motives. And Hawke began challenging everyone at the bar to arm wrestling matches. Merrill had tried to keep the group together, but failed instantly.

Several bar changes later the increasingly loud group ended up in “The Fereldan”. A cozy pub filled with people drinking beer and debating the football game that flickered over a screen in a corner behind the bar. The pointy eared women, singing randomly, quickly gained the attention of everyone in the room. Including Cullen and Alistair who sat at a small table to the side and watched the set of familiar women with growing dread. At least on Cullen’s part, who silently prayed that they would remain unnoticed. But of course, he wasn’t as lucky.

“Alistaaiiiir!”

Hawke sported a huge grin and swayed towards their table. She obviously attempted to sit down on Alistair’s lap when said man moved to make room for her on the bench. The response he got was a pout and a hand snatching his arm, holding it tightly. “Hi Hawke! Nice to see you!” He slurred and grinned at her.

“Hi!”

Another wide grin was thrown at Alistair and Cullen. Then nothing. For about a minute. When Cullen thought that Hawke wouldn’t say more, she spoke up again. “Sooo… this is where you…”, she pointed at them or rather waved her finger first in the direction of Alistair and then Cullen, “… hide away from us…” A frown appeared on her face as she was planning her next sentence. “You used to be in the Hanged Man, Alistair… now you’re aaalways with your pretty boyfriend…” Hawke snuggled into his side and Alistair blushed deeply at her comment and the unexpectedly close contact. “Eh.. Hawke.. that… eh…”

Instead of talking about that topic, Hawke suddenly swung around and reached out to grab Cullen’s hand. “Congrats on the puppy!” After that she stood up wordlessly and stalked back to her sister’s side who had been looking for her. The rest of the girls were busy singing quite a dirty drinking song. Aveline sat in the middle, cheeks flushed, tiara slightly crooked on her head, but with a huge smile.

In a desperate attempt to ignore Hawke’s weird comment, Cullen focused his attention on the hen night. “Hmm, looks like Miss Vallen is finally getting married. She’s dating Donnic. You know… from the other department.” Cullen took a careful sip from his beer. He was glad that Hawke was back with her friends again. He had nothing against her. But when drunk she was far too clingy for his liking.

“I didn’t know. Donnic you say…” Alistair scrunched up his nose in thought. Judging by the fact that he had emptied quite a few pints as well that night, Cullen was wondering if his boyfriend even remembered the other police officer. “Ahh… The nice one” Alistair finally nodded firmly and smiled at Cullen who almost spat out his drink. He had no idea if Alistair really categorized Donnic as “the nice one” in his memory or simply couldn’t remember who he was talking about. “Yes, the nice one, love!” Despite his best efforts, Cullen’s lips twitched into a grin.

On the girls’ table Isabela suddenly spoke up so loud that the whole pub could hear it. “To the bride!” As she tossed her hand with the shot glass upwards and then emptied it in one go, one of her elf ears fell off due to the swift, uncoordinated movements. “No! My ear! Bethany, my ear’s gone!!” With a terrified expression on her face, she dove under the table to retrieve it. Cullen would have sworn he heard something like. “I need my ear to be part of the crew!” The whole scene was amusingly bizarre.

“You know we should do that too!” Alistair drunkenly exclaimed after at least 20 more minutes in which he had watched the hen night continue and downed another beer. His eyes were slightly glassy and his smile a bit too wide.

“Wear elf ears in public?!” Cullen’s lips curled into an amused smile. He wasn’t nearly as drunk as his boyfriend and could only guess why the group of women celebrating Aveline made Alistair so emotional. His boyfriend shook his head quite dramatically.

“No…no…unless you want to do that of course…” His smile slipped slightly into something more mischievous before it settled on the teary expression again. “I know it...might sound strange, considering we haven't been together very long, but I've come to...care for you. A great deal.”

Alistair swiftly blushed a deep red and Cullen was unable to respond. His mouth suddenly very dry. He simply stared in complete shock as Alistair fumbled for more words and reached for his hands over the table. He wanted to exclaim that Alistair was drunk. That they were drunk. That someone was drunk and the situation extremely odd. But instead his heart was racing, his breath getting shallow, his eyes growing wider and all he could do was stare as his boyfriend opened his lips to continue.

“Would you maybe… be my bride… Husband!… Marry me?”

Alistair gulped visibly and for a moment Cullen was too stunned to do anything. He couldn’t laugh at Alistair’s little jumble of words. And couldn’t say anything in return. And most of all couldn’t process that this had been a proposal. He simply sat there gaping and clutching Alistair’s hand.

When another moment got by and not even Alistair’s currently slowed down senses could take the suspense any longer he spoke up again, his voice slightly shaking.

“That wasn’t too soon, was it?”


End file.
